Victory Quartet
by BrokenLifeCycle
Summary: Neptune wasn't the only one to be transported to Ultradimension! How will the four CPUs handle being in a new world with new rules? How will their home nations cope with them missing? Most importantly, how will Neptune be the protagonist if the other three are hogging the spotlight!
1. Chapter 1

"**CPUs like you... should just... DISAPPEAR!"** the delusional woman roared with such uncharacteristic force that it nearly knocked the girl over.

However, that was not the main thing to worry about. The more worrying thing was the black miasma that emitted out of the activist like an ever-expanding, ever-accelerating shell.

"Woah, what the Nep?!" the small one exclaimed before her world went black as she was whisked away to another world.

Little did she know, the shell did more than only sweep her away. It spread out from this point, encapsulating, engulfing, and combing through the entirety of Gamindustri with one programmed goal in mind:

Make every CPU disappear.

* * *

The rushing sound of the wind flowing past her ears woke up our intrepid protagonist of the series. She was a little girl with lilac hair and two distinct d-pad shaped hair clips adorned upon her head. This is Neptune, former-amnesiac, pudding lover, and master procrastinator. It's hard to believe that this diminutive one is also a leader/goddess of a nation called Planeptune and is also its CPU to boot.

"Woah... Like, what just happened?" Neptune muttered, blinking her violet eyes open and adjusting to the sudden bright light. That was when she noticed the blue skies, the fluffy white clouds, and the ground _below _the clouds. Judging by her feeling of weightlessness, she was falling. Again.

"Whaat?!" she exclaimed in shock, "Why am I falling like it's ReBirth 1? Am I going to get hit with amnesia again? Geeze-Nepeeze, I seriously need to have a help-line for that on speed-dial!"

"Pipe down, Neptune, I'm trying to take a nap!" a familiar voice snapped nearby.

Neptune turned her head in surprise and discovered that she wasn't the only one plummeting from the stratosphere. She saw black twin-tails flapping in the air along with the many frills that adorned the black, fancy, maid-like attire. This is Noire, the chronically lonely, not-so-secret cosplayer and tsundere-extraordinaire. She is also the CPU of Lastation. The wannabe loner was curled up with sleeping blindfolds on her face and trying to doze off without realizing that her bed was missing.

First off, the ever-serious goddess took naps? More importantly, _why_ was she here?

Unfortunately, Neptune had no time to contemplate this within her little noggin as she heard yet another voice of a person who shouldn't be here.

"Uhg! Did that twerp turn on the fan again?!" the voice of a crass girl grumbled, "It's making my pages go all over the place!"

She says this and yet her big poofy hat managed to stay firmly put upon her short, brown hair.

This is Blanc, the temperamental yet stoic aspiring novelist CPU of Lowee (and "justice"). Similarly, Blanc was not noticing her rapid plummet despite her struggle to get control over her paper-back book. It must have been a very good book if a fall was not going to break her intense blue eyes staring at the contents held within those pages.

It was at this point that Neptune reluctantly accepted that this was happening and looked around to find the final member of the quartet they had become. Low and behold, she quickly found who she was looking for: a blonde, buxom women in a green dress currently trying and failing to play a game she was no longer connected to. This is Vert, the CPU of Leanbox, the well endowed, unofficial onee-san out of the four, and the stealer of sisters.

"Aw. My internet connection died! I thought that my ISP said they were 100% reliable," Vert exclaimed, not noticing anything out of the ordinary aside from a sharp breeze fluttering her dress, miraculously without panty-flashing anyone. Her face had a VR set upon it, "Is the power out as well? Why is my controller not doing anything?"

Neptune 'swam' through the air to get closer to Vert and tapped on her shoulder.

"Ara?" Vert exclaimed before lifting the VR set off of her head, "Oh! Neptune! I did not know you were visiting!" she glanced around and saw the others, still oblivious of her altitude, "Was there a party I did not know about?"

Neptune shrugged, "A lot of things were unexpected. This includes but not limited to: the lack of pudding, our displacement, and the Spanish Inquisition."

The Vert stared blankly at her, "... What?"

"Dunno. Don't care, thunder-tits," Blanc replied almost like clockwork, still engrossed with her book, "It's Neptune. Since when does she ever make sense?"

"...That's a fair point."

Noire growled in irritation and ripped off her blindfolds, "Oh, will you all pipe down— WHAAA?! We're falling?! Why are we falling?!"

That finally earned the proper reaction from the other two. Vert and Blanc noticed that they were, in fact, not sitting or lying upon any furniture.

"Oh goodness me?! This isn't my room!" "What the fuck?! Where the hell am I?!" Vert and Blanc, respectively, cried out.

Noire glanced down, much to her growing horror, "Oh crap! The ground's getting closer!" She clung to the nearest person — Blanc in this case. "We weren't supposed to be involved this early in the original script! We're all gonna die!"

Neptune waved her hands placatingly to the panicking trio, "No reason to worry! We can just transform and slow down!"

"Oh!" Vert exclaimed in delight, "But of course!" She attempted to activate HDD alongside the others.

No dice. No magic, flashy, stripperific transformation sequences. No HDD forms. No flight.

"..." Neptune calmly announced, "Okay, now we panic."

* * *

Meanwhile, hundreds of meters below them where the ground resided, two girls were walking through Virtua forest. Along the way, they heard panicked screams emanating from somewhere.

_"waaaaaaahh!"_

"Heeey... where's all that screaming coming from~?" one girl drowsily asked as she trailed behind the other barely trying to keep up.

"Urg. I don't know, but it's getting distracting!" the black-haired one said, "And keep up, Plutia! We're wasting time!"

"Pooey~" she yawned and upped her pace just enough, "And it sounded like it's getting reaaaal close!"

The screams were, indeed, getting louder.

Unfortunately, the other girl looked too focused on her current goals to be distracted by other details, "That's just you imagining things—" That's when she finally heard the words in that noise.

"AAAHHH!" "MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE!" "GANG WAAYYY!" "INCOMING!"

She wasted her only chance to escape fate and looked up instead of dodging.

"Uh—"

The only thing she saw was a large shadow heading straight for her face.

_C-C-C-CRASH!_

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_Okay, so this is a fanfiction based on a prompt provided by the Writing Prompt Wednesday Event #72 of the Neptunia Subreddit. It had so much potential in it that it convinced me to post something for the first time. _

_Do not expect frequent nor consistent post rates, though. I am quite slow in generating content, much less putting it down in words._

_Nevertheless, do review and give suggestions. Even if it's a really good suggestion that changes chapter 5 out of 20 already written chapters, I do not hesitate to make retroactive changes. I am an iterative writer. That means I change things when suitable because, collectively, this is an unfinished work which shouldn't be considered rigid the moment I post. It is unrealistic for me to get it right the first time, anyway._

_Of course, I will list any major changes that happen and give credit if I use someone's ideas._


	2. Chapter 2

The crash kicked up a huge plume of dust upon impact. Coughs and hacks filled the air before the particles settled enough to allow them to breathe freely. Soon, it revealed four silent figures still clinging to one another, still staring distantly wide-eyed in indeterminate directions. Somehow, they had survived hitting the ground at terminal velocity. Their minds were slow to register their well-being as the effects of shock were slow to wear down.

"...So..." Neptune began slowly, breaking the quiet, "Roll call. Purple is alive."

Noire cleared her lung, "_Hack! Uhn_... Black is alright..."

"Green is sore, but okay," Vert managed to squeak out.

"White is unharmed but wants Green and Black to get their tits out of her face!" Blanc growled from within the emergency crash-cushions she had found her head sandwiched between.

Vert and Noire looked down. Sure enough, Blanc was experiencing a male virgin's dream right now. The bustier two looked up and exchanged glances.

"No, I don't think we will," Vert answered for them both, "We need you to be our hug pillow for a while after what we just experienced."

Noire reluctantly nodded in agreement.

This prompted a string of curses in multiple ancient languages from Blanc. Half of those were invented by her just now.

Neptune, still clinging to Vert's backside, cleared her throat, "Now, I don't mean to ruin whatever yuri moments you three are having... but someone needs to railroad us back onto the plot."

"I think I've had enough 'plot' as is!" Blanc's growl muffled through the bountiful bosom.

"Come now, Blanc," Vert teased, "I'm very sure you're enjoying this, hm~?"

More expletives ensued.

Noire raised her voice over that, "Enough! That's not important! We need to ascertain our situation and location before we figure out what happened!"

"Do that _after_ you let go of me!" Blanc growled.

Suddenly, a drowsy voice cut in before another tirade could happen.

"Uhhhm... You're in Virtua Forest!" they heard.

The quartet froze and simultaneously looked behind themselves. Blanc, in particular, had to extract herself from two pairs of arms before she could do so.

They saw a girl with about the same apparent age as Neptune standing there, awkwardly grasping her large plush doll. She had long, lavender, messy bed-hair done into a single, giant braid with a bow tied at the end. Her primarily pastel blue and pink outfit consisted of a dress probably more suited for sleeping in than to be wandering around outside, especially when the fluffy, pink, bear-themed bedroom slippers were taken into account for.

"Oh, hello there!" Neptune chirped, "Virtua you say? That's very close to home!"

Plutia visibly perked up with some energy, "Oooh? You live near my nation~?"

"No, silly! I don't live near it, I live in it! I'm Neptune. I'm sure you've heard of me, by the way?"

The girl answered with a frank, "Nope!" much to Neptune's confidence.

"...Oh..." Sad Nep drooped, all of her excitement and ego deflating out of her like a released balloon.

Well, it wasn't every day when someone from her own nation bluntly said they did not recognize her despite living there. Unfortunately, Neptune could not dwell any longer on that as befuddlement overtook her depression after the other girl introduced herself.

"I'm Pluutia! The CPU of Planeptune!" said Plutia with some sleepily drawn-out vowels that almost made her seem angelic.

However... what...? What she said didn't make any sense. The other three slowly glanced at Neptune. As far as they were concerned, Neptune was the CPU of Planeptune, not this Plutia person.

And yet... they could feel that she was telling the truth about being a CPU.

There was one skill that the CPUs had: the detection of Share Energy. As it is the resource that supported a CPU's life and powers, being able to sense it accurately was an important basic skill to have, especially when it came to gauging the wellbeing of their followers — the very source of that energy.

They detected vast amounts of Share Energy flowing into this girl. Had this been a regular human, they would detect an outflow instead. This girl was most certainly a CPU.

Everything was starting to get surreal and hard to understand. They needed more information.

Neptune burst out with an outraged, "Whaaaaat—?!" only for Vert to cut her off with a hand over her mouth.

"Oh! Fascinating!" the Leanbox CPU faux-praised before probing for more information, "Do tell us more!"

"Sure!" said Plutia, "Sooo... It was chartered juuuust a little while ago! It's the second nation out of the only twooo nations in Gamindustri, though it's not as old as Loweee~!"

"...Wut..." the four muttered under their breaths.

That can't be right. Planeptune along with the other three were over several centuries old with extensive histories backing each. Time of greatness. Times of sadness. Times of prosperity. Times of strife. Times of war. So old that they didn't bother with asserting seniority anymore. Each nation had had many up and down cycles in their long histories, the ASIC Incursion being the most recent turmoil they were recovering from.

Suddenly, Plutia was closer to the group, standing in front of Noire specifically. She looked at the Noire's face from multiple angles with a curious gaze, evidently eager to meet new people.

"Saaaay... you looked a lot like my friend," she pointed out, "Does she have a twin I did not know about~?"

"T-Twin?" Noire echoed and shook her head, "As far as I know, I don't have a twin. I have a little sister, and we do look similar but not by _that_ much. What's her name?"

"Noire!"

"..." it was Noire's turn to be stunned, and before she could burst out like Neptune, Blanc's hand covered her mouth.

"Really now," the Loweean said, "I'd like to meet her."

"Oh, you caaan! She was with me before you came~!"

The quartet was curious to meet this so-called lookalike and namesake to Noire, and they glanced around trying to find her.

"Uh... Where is she?" Vert asked.

"You're sitting on her," said Plutia, bluntly.

That's when the butt-cushion decided to make her existence known.

**_"Get your collective rears off me!"_** a muffled scream emanated from beneath the four.

Four promptly reacted in unison, scrambling in four directions...

"Goodness!" "Nepu?!" "Da fuk?!" "Eeep!"

...only to unconsciously gravitate back together in more petrifying shock again upon seeing who they had unwittingly used as a landing pad. She had black hair done in familiar twin-tails and sharp red eyes that always seemed annoyed at everything around her. As she got up from being flattened face-first into the ground, she turned towards Plutia.

"Well!" the Noire-looking girl harrumphed while straightening her skirt, "It was about time someone remembered that I existed!" She glared at Plutia.

The so-called CPU of Planeptune clutched her plushie with an airheaded, sheepish grin, "Oopsies~! Sorry, Noire~!"

The lookalike huffed the rest of her irritation out of her and began turning to face her assaulters.

"Now, onto the four fools! I expect apologies out of you..." she slowly trailed off, and her angry face slowly morphed into an expression identical to Noire's. In fact, she looked identical, just as Plutia said!

"!" the new Noire could barely manage to vocalize her shock.

"...!" the first Noire looked similarly befuddled.

The two of them pointed aggressively at each other as if trying to discern which one was not like the other and which one is the impersonator, their voices turned into strained squeaks as they lost their ability to speak! Even their voices were identical!

"I do believe now would be safe to say that either we're looking at a clone, or we're not where we're supposed to be," Neptune announced, "Though, I think the audience already knows the answer to that..."

"Me?! The clone?!" Noire in the cropped-top outfit shouted in outrage, "What nonsense is that?! I'm the real Noire!" she pointed to her doppelganger, "She's obviously the fake! I mean, what's with that over-the-top outfit?! Lose the frills and accessories, honey, you're an eyesore!"

"Why, I never—" the one in pleats and ruffles bristled, "Well since we're on the topic of each other's outfits, what's with _your_ wardrobe? Have some modesty, will you?! You look like you're trying out a skimpy cosplay of a stage idol! You're literally one skirt away from looking like Vert!"

"Hey!" Vert interjected, "I do not dress immodestly—"

Her fellow compatriots gave her a deadpan and raised eyebrows.

"...Well, not all the time..." the goddess in green amended with a pout and turned away as regally as she could in this situation. There was no way to argue when her Processor Unit looked like it required adhesives to stay properly in place and relatively family-friendly.

"Says the one who doesn't wear a proper bra..." Blanc jabbed.

Vert looked taken aback, "Whatever do you mean?"

"You just shoved my face into your fat bags. Of course I would notice! Also explains why your jugs jiggle incessantly at the slightest movement! Wear something with proper support for once!"

"At least I have a reason to need support, unlike some... less fortunate individuals."

Blanc visibly bristled like an angry cat, "_Bitch_, you did not just go there."

Rather than continue with words, Vert did the unthinkable; she suddenly grabbed Blanc's head and went back to smothering the girl in her chest.

"There, there, Blanc," she said soothingly but the patronizing tone did anything but, "You may not have it yourself, but you can experience this as many times as you wish."

Egregious excessive expletives erupted from the volcano incarnate.

Meanwhile, the two Noire's and Neptune were in their own bicker.

"Wait. Plutia said that she's friends with this Noire," Neptune said, referring to the one in the two-piece.

Noire of Lastation bristled at the incoming overused joke, "Neptune..."

Smug Nep was not to be deterred, "That means..."

"Neptune, no..."

"She's one-upped you there. She has at least one friend!"

Noire pounced wrathfully, "Neptune! I will murderize you!"

The little goddess couldn't avoid the Intercontinental Ballistic Noire, colliding with the other Noire behind her, igniting a scuffle between worlds.

"Nepu!" "Oof!" "Get off me!"

A dust-cloud scuffle ensued. Kicks were being thrown. Hairs were getting pulled. Vert was still smothering Blanc, and the CPU of White Serenity was anything but serene right now.

Eventually, someone had had enough of the noise.

* * *

"Hey... I don't like seeing people fiiiiight, okay~?" Plutia asserted with a barely raised voice, and yet, this was enough energy to cut through the cacophony and enter clearly into everyone's ears and instill obedience.

Everyone froze in their last stance and shakily looked at Plutia. As innocent-looking as the narcoleptic marshmallow seemed, the oppressive aura she was putting out said otherwise. It was like a column of deep, freezing ocean water had slammed down upon everyone present, suffocating and constricting them from moving or even speaking.

"P-P-Plutia...!" Noire stuttered, "W-W-We're not f-f-f-fighting!" She playfully threw an arm around her apparent twin, "We're just... having a heated discussion, is all!" She leaned her head close to the other Noire and whispered harshly to the rest, "Play. Along!"

The other Noire shakily affirmed, "Y-Yeah! Just a disagreement we c-can work out civilly and maturely! No need for any intervention!"

Neptune nodded rapidly, "Undoubtedly! Peace be with us! Just a friendly spat!"

Blanc had reversed gears and instead of trying to get away from Vert, she sank deeper into the bountiful bosom, hoping that disappearing deep into the maternal mounds would protect her from the horrors. Vert merely accepted this unconsciously, holding Blanc closer as one would a teddy bear for comfort.

All of this placated Plutia sufficiently, and her slightly stern expression turned neutral once more, "Gooood~! Let's all be friends go back to the Basilicom~"

She turned and wandered away, giving Noire a chance to urgently advise the others, "A word of advice to you all: Never. Make. Plutie. Angry. You'll live longer that way!"

They nodded. There was no room to argue after what they had just witnessed.

"What are you waiting around for~? Come ooon!" the proclaimed CPU of Planeptune called out to them. They broke free from their stunned debuff and moved to catch up to the scary girl.

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_If it's not obvious, the introduction part was clunky! I mean, how else should you react when someone else suddenly claims to own your home?_

_Anyway... As you will notice, there will be some changes to canon to address some of the unexplained details. For instance, Shares. I'm changing the definition and adding a subcategory: Share Energy. I hope I find a chance to narratively add it. What you need to know is that Shares are the source, and Share Energy has measurable individual units._

_That being said, onto CPUs detecting Share Energy. My reason is that creatures needs to be able to detect their food, and CPUs aren't too different from that. I mean, how else do they record the Share levels **of the world** to report a percentage of a whole? Shares are the main source of conflict in the Neptunia franchise. It is baffling to have so little information on it._


	3. Chapter 3

Their trek had taken a few hours with a few encounters with monsters getting in the group's way, but Virtua Forest was not known to be a highly hostile place harboring mobs with high enough levels to threaten the sextuple squad. Under Plutia's guidance and a reliance upon her friend's assistance, they were able to leave the forest in a timely manner.

Plutia cheered shortly after they broke from the forest line, pointing excitedly at a distant city, "Looook~! There's Planeptune!"

"U-Uh... Are you sure?" Neptune hazarded to ask, staring particularly at the _lack_ of a significantly taller structure among the forest of steel.

"Mmmhmm!" nodded Plutia.

Disbelief overtook her expression, "Are you sure-sure?"

"Yuuup!"

Denial replaced it, "Sure-sure with a side of absolute seriousness?"

"Seriously serious!"

Neptune became desperate for a different answer, "And there is no potential improbability that would contradict your statement and render it only mostly certain?"

Plutia took on a worried look, "Neppy...? Are you doubting me...?"

"You do have a Basilicom, right?"

"I will."

That was enough confirmation for Neptune.

This discovery struck the poor CPU hard, and she collapsed onto all fours. The Planeptune Tower. The Basilicom. The culmination of technologies that granted its imposing height over all others as a grounded, self-contained sky-city in its own right. The pride and joy. The very symbol of Planeptune's mighty progress in nearly every field of technology and engineering. Nonexistent. The reality was truly setting in: this wasn't home.

Neptune let out a squeaky release of air from her lungs like a deflating balloon, her despair hitting critical mass.

"Neptune, are you okay?" Vert poked the girl.

Neptune hopped up and pointed vigorously in the distance, "No Planeptune Tower?!"

"What are you talking about? It's in the process of being designed. It'll be the tallest building in all of Gamindustri clocking in at over eight hundred meters," the chillier of the Noire's argued, "Not even Lowee could build to such height. They cheated using a mountain."

Neptune exclaimed with even more outrage, "I disappear from Planeptune for a day and it gets downgraded to less than a kilometer tall?! What the Neppu?!"

Noire gazed blankly at the rest of the group, "...What is she talking about?"

The remaining trio silently exchanged glances amongst one another, unsure of how they could explain what they had been suspecting for a while now. The problem here was convincing Noire of it without sounding as crazy as their resident ditz.

"Ah. E-Excuse us for a moment," said Vert before she pulled her group aside to have a quick meeting, "Girls, analysis."

"100% Isekai," said Blanc, suddenly wearing glasses, "I'm reading one, right now." She lifted it up to emphasize.

"'Isekai?'" asked the frillier Noire.

"In short, the main character is sent to a different world," a mostly recovered Neptune filled in, "Like us right now. Minus the truck yeetus deleetus'ing us, of course."

Noire raised an eyebrow, "And _how_ do we know we're in another world?"

Rather than answer, Neptune once more vigorously motioned to the city in the distance with a current _lack_ of an over-kilometer tall, hyperbolic-cone-shaped skyscraper that served as the centerpiece of her nation.

"You're still sore about that?" Noire asked with some mild amusement.

"Of course!" Neptune snapped irritably.

Blanc cracked a smirk, "Heh. I knew you were compensating for something with your tower."

Neptune's eyes became blank as she deadpanned, "It doesn't. _My_ transformation, though, _will_ compensate for something."

The subtle but scalding retort from Neptune was so uncharacteristically arid that Blanc simply couldn't get angry in return for the subtle quip at her chest, too shocked to comprehend this turnabout.

"What are we going to do now? We still have to find a way to get home," asked Vert, railroading them back on topic before Blanc's delayed fury could kick in.

Neptune answered with a nonchalant shrug, "Throw Share Energy at the problem. That always works."

"Well, we don't have a lot of Share Energy to spare, remember? Still recovering from ASIC and all," Noire pointed out, "And it appears that we can't really farm for it, either. We're not the CPUs of these nations."

The other Noire cut their strategy meeting short and impatiently called out, "Are you four done yet? We're burning daylight the longer we linger. I don't want to be out here near Virtua when it's dark! That's when more monsters come out!"

Vert sighed, "She makes a good point."

"I'm pretty sure that monsters always roam in Virtua..." Neptune pointed out.

"It would be better to continue this in a safer location, regardless," said Blanc.

They returned to Plutia and Noire-the-lesser.

"Well, can I get an explanation about yourselves, for once?" the aforementioned Noire demanded.

Vert exchanged one final glance amongst her group, "It... would be best if we explained it to you it in a more... suitable location. It's... complicated."

Noire narrowed her eyes before turning with a huff, "Fiiine. If you all insist. We'll go to the temporary Basilicom first."

* * *

The markets were bustling. The people were hustling. As expected of a city, it would be busy with activity at any time of the day. Within it all, the crowds parted clearly apart for a particular group of six. More specifically, they were parting ways for the leading duo of the group. The rest took this moment to take in the sights.

From just a general appearance alone, Planeptune did not appear that different from its counterpart the four were familiar with. Again, apart from the lack of massive central building of worship, symbolic nationalism, governance, and administration, Planeptune looked just as urban and sprawling as they remembered. Of course, one person in particular, did not share the sentiment.

"Where... are the... Hard-Light... Sky-Bridges?" Neptune said in a broken tone, eyes twitching wildly as her head whipped around furiously trying to spot one of the many iconic technologies her nation was renowned for. Gone was the hyperactive girl. In place was now an exasperated perfectionist griping about all the missing details.

"Oh my. She's really taking this badly," Vert commented quietly.

"Well, she is the CPU of Purple Progress..." Blanc replied, "This may not be _her_ nation, but it is a namesake. All of this is like taking a step backward to her. All that progress. Gone."

Meanwhile, the two Noire's had engaged in a fierce verbal battle of existential rights.

"I just don't understand how _you_ can look almost _exactly_ like me and _also_ have the same name," protested the Noire with the exposed navel, "As far as I'm concerned, I never had a sister, and it is astronomically impossible for two people to be born this identical!"

"Well, someone's going to have to change names," Noire said, "I suggest that _I_ keep my name, and _you _change yours. I nominate you to be renamed to Coussin."

"'Coussin?'" Noire looked appalled, "I don't have cousins, either, and... wait. You just called me 'Cushion' in another language!"

Noire became smug, "I dunno. You were a rather effective one when my group and I landed atop of you. We didn't notice you for a grand total of three minutes, just as unnoticed you would be if you didn't show any more skin."

Noire bristled at that, "Well, at least I don't look like I'm flaunting my credits at everyone––"

Neptune finally burst in and intervened on behalf of the writer's sanity, "Okay! Stop! This is going to become too confusing to _everyone _if I do not intervene! The author only has so many creative pronouns and adjectives to differentiate between you two Noire's without repetition!" she pointed at the recently used butt-cushion, "You are Noire Jr.!"

"Hey!" Noire Jr. retorted

Neptune pointed at the one who arrived with her, "You are Noire Sr.!"

Noire Sr. puffed her chest proudly, "As it should have been!"

"You know you just agreed to be indirectly called old, right?" Noire Jr. pointed out.

Noire Sr. stumbled, "Wait what–– Hey! I'm not old!" she looked to her compatriots for support, "Am I old?"

Blanc looked up from her book to deadpan at her, "You realize we're older than most _grandparents_, right?"

"Huh—?" Noire Jr. queried only to be overridden by her presumably older counterpart.

"I know, but it's propriety's sake! I do not look like it!" Noire Sr. retorted.

Vert commented while tilting her head slightly upon a finger, "With the amount of bickering you've been doing with essentially yourself, you might as well begin to."

"Oh, don't you start––"

Plutia looked back and interrupted the incoming tirade with an ominous "Ora~?" cowing them into submission once more with the threat of waking a sleeping giant. The cold aura pressing down upon them affected nearby people, causing them to freeze before they began panicking to get as far away from Plutia as possible:

"She's at it again, boys, R U N!" a man warned.

"I don't like where this is going!" said another.

One was already fleeing in a brisk walk, "No, no-nope, nope, nope!"

"My body is _not_ ready!" Another all but dashed away.

The other CPUs watched this spectacle, dumbfounded. This was an abnormal reaction for followers to have towards their CPU, especially if they knew what her base form looked like. For one, fear does not garner Shares very well. Rather, it does, but not in a very sustainable way, as the CFWs during the ASIC debacle would attest to...

On the plus note, it made getting to the temporary Basilicom much faster.

* * *

The temporary Basilicom was as basic as they had expected it to be. It wasn't the tallest, but it was just tall enough to look over most of the buildings and see the gravity-defying rock formations of the Zeca Mesas off in the northern horizon. The building was unremarkable; it looked like any other building within the city — angular and nonsymmetric. It was unassuming and was located in the outer districts just at the end of the bisecting highway cluster cleaving through the city like a main artery. The only decent thing about this building was the view it would give of the true Basilicom to be located somewhere along that very road.

But, for now, it was Plutia and Noire Jr.'s home.

They entered the building through minimally guarded glass sliding doors, immediately entering the receptionist hall where a single clerk sat nervously. She gulped upon seeing Plutia.

"L-L-Lady Plutia! Welcome b-back!" she stuttered to greet.

"Heeeey..." said Plutia, "Didn't I tell you to just call me 'Plutia' when I'm like this~?"

She may have said it serenely with absolutely no hint of aggression or threat, yet the clerk still treated it as such.

"Y-Yes ma'am! I mean _Plutia!_" she fired off before returning to her meager paperwork posthaste.

From there, they found an elevator to ride up towards the top where Plutia's Sanctuary is located. And so, the group waited within the cramped box gradually rising up towards their destination.

Unfortunately, the silence became unbearable for poor Neptune as her hyperactive mind yearned for narrative interaction, so she turned to her counterpart for much-needed socialization — with the benefit of gathering more information. Neptune struck up a conversation with the deceptively sleepy CPU.

"Soooo, Plutie — can I call you that? — what's your HDD like? What cool weapons do you use in that form? How strong are you? Any special abilities?" Neptune fired off in rapid succession, "I for one, use these massive purple katanas where I can chain these huge combos for maximum damage like _swish_ and _slash _and—"

She started making sound effects and whatever poses she could make with what little room was left in the elevator car.

"Hehe~! You can call me Plutie if you let me call you Neppy, 'kay~?" Plutia giggled and replied angelically, "Oh, when I'm in HDD, I use this sword that's also a whip!"

So many alarms went off in Neptune's mind. The same could be said for the CPUs behind who overheard them.

"That's a little..." Vert began and trailed off.

Blanc finished for her, "Unorthodox."

"I wouldn't consider it... appropriate," Noire Sr. wondered, "If anything, it might scare your followers too much."

Plutia shrugged while idly clutching her plushy, "I dunno... people do run _away_ from me, buuuut~ lots of them lay there for me to I _step on them_..." her grip suddenly looked like a stranglehold. The air around her seemed to darken as she said that last part.

Once more, with unpleasant feelings, the four were rendered speechless. They glanced over to Noire Jr. for confirmation. That thousand-mile stare she had at the mention of Plutia's enigmous HDD form said it all and made their imagery of it worse. Looking back, the debacle she caused in the markets and the flightiness of the clerk should have been a warning sign. They promptly decided that it would be for the best to leave that topic alone.

_DING!_ The elevator notified them of their arrival.

"We're here~!" cheered Plutia as she skipped towards the entrance to her home. The rest followed.

* * *

As her temporary Basilicom was essentially a repurposed office building, dedicating an entire floor was more than sufficient for a Sanctuary with all of the amenities any CPU would need: bath, office, kitchen, living room, guest rooms, etc.

But that was evidently not important. Plutia was quick to show them her personal room. It was as pastel as they expected it. Flowery decals decorated the peach ceiling among the flower-like ceiling lamp. Shelves holding an assortment of craft materials lined one corner of the wall. There was a bed in the adjacent corner. Overall, it was not a small room, but it was the most homely of all the square-footage of this flat.

"So, what do you thiink~?" chirped Plutia.

The first thing Neptune's eyes locked onto was the console set up within it. The screen it was hooked up to was perhaps the most advanced thing in this city that she had seen. Even if it would not compare to its contemporary in her world, just seeing some kind of high-aspect-ratio flat-screen worked wonders to soothe her frazzled mind. Perhaps this nation wasn't as paleolithic as she had imagined.

Her body began moving before her mind could catch up.

"Oooo! Everything is all pins and wires and retro! It must have been at least a century since I saw everything like this!" Neptune commented, lifting up a squarish controller nostalgically, "Ahhh... I remember like it was yesterday when the games only required face-buttons and a d-pad. Now, it's all about flailing around," she looked pointedly at three CPUs in particular as she said the last part.

"_Oi!_" "Hey!" "'Flailing?!'" Blanc, Noire Sr., and Vert, respectively, exclaimed.

"That controller was the first of its kind! Bleeding edge over Planeptune for once!" Blanc retorted heatedly, "It was so popular that Noire ripped off the idea and made that black dildo of hers!"

"Don't call it that!" Noire Sr. shot back, "My version was ergonomic and had better tech overall! You call it a rip. I call it innovation — better than all the _actual_ flailing that Leanbox ended up doing!"

"It was a unique solution to the same problem!" Vert defended, "Rather than track the remote, my method tracked the user! It was a stepping stone for future developments that would change the industry forever! Immersive, intuitive input directly through the mind!"

"And nearly fried the brains of the testers when they tried to log out," Neptune reminded, much to Vert's pained expression, "Now you're stuck to headsets and hand controls. Meanwhile, my dear Gearsy just finished the fulldive version of Nepulus Grift!"

"Oh, just you wait. While your nation prances around in their digital lives, mine will bring that world into reality!"

Blanc scoffed, "You always dream big, Vert, but can you walk the walk?

"The last three times says otherwise," Noire Sr. supported the contrary.

"You take that back!" exclaimed Vert.

""Make us!""

Plutia, for the third time today, cut in. This time, she was visibly irritated, "Heeey... Are you fiiighting again~?"

Noire Jr. was behind Plutia, out of the latter's field of view, desperately motioning a 'cut it out' gesture for the others to cease their bickering lest they incite the wrath of a demon. The quartet complied _very_ quickly and quickly looked to change the subject.

Noire Jr. had just the solution:

"Now that you all mention it, you all talk as if you're older than you let on. What do you mean 'century?'" Noire Jr. demanded for the final time, "And no more stalling!"

The quartet exchanged quick glances with one another. It had finally come to this. They silently decided that it would be best to tell the truth regardless of how unbelievable it was.

"Ah..." Vert spoke for the rest of her group, "Girls, if you would, I shall begin."

"Our words may seem confusing if not outlandish, but I assure you, we speak nothing but the truth," the one in green struck a regal pose, "I am Vert, also known as Green Heart, the CPU of Leanbox, the nation of Green Growth."

This visibly surprised Noire Jr., but she held off on her dismay for now.

Blanc finally finished reading her book and let it disappear into her large sleeves, "I'm Blanc. I am CPU White Heart of Lowee, the land of White Serenity."

This, in which, only further confused Noire Jr. After all, what business would the CPU of Lowee have that involved _falling out of the sky_?

When it was her turn, Noire Sr. crossed her arms in an almost arrogant fashion over her junior and grinned, "Hmph, about time. I am Black Heart of the land of Black Regality: Lastation! I'll still let you call me Noire, though."

Noire Jr.'s eye twitched at her senior's cockiness and further confusion of further discrepancies to her general knowledge.

Neptune suddenly broke Noire's proud image by hopping in front of her, striking a pose straight out of a show about costume-wearing motorcycle heroes.

"And I'm Neptune, CPU of Planeptune, the land of Purple Progress!" the neglected protagonist proclaimed with utmost confidence and charisma in her stance to make up for her woeful lack of narrative relevance.

"Ooooh~ Niiice!" Plutia praised her counterpart with cheerfully clapping hands.

Unfortunately, Noire Jr. had had enough. She exclaimed in outrage, "Plutia, _you're _the CPU of Planeptune! Never did you call your nation that! Don't let their delusions trick you! How can that brat over there be the CPU of Planeptune when _you_ started your nation?! In fact, out of all of them, the only one who I'd believe would be Blanc over there because unlike the other two, Lowee actually does exist!"

Blanc raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Tell me more."

Plutia had mentioned that Lowee apparently existed in this very similar yet very different Gamindustri.

Noire Jr. scoffed as if she was explaining a common knowledge, "Well duh! It's just that your outfit is a bit different from what I've seen about you. They say you wear the colors of the eternal autumn red that surrounds your nation."

"Yeah, well you're mistaking me for someone else. I rarely wear red," Blanc deadpanned, "And I remember Lowee as an ever-tundra, and its primary colors are pastel blue and pink to match the wintery-wonderland around it."

Noire Jr. stared blankly at her and slumped in defeat, "...You let me down, girl. I vouched for you, and you let me down..."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" seethed Blanc.

"That you're a poser as delusional as the other three!"

A vein bulged on Blanc's forehead before pulling a hammer out of nowhere apparent, "You want to _go_, you cheeky cockwomble?!"

However, before Blanc could become ballistic, Neptune, Noire Sr., and Vert simultaneously grabbed her to hold her back from inciting a scuffle — lest they incite the wrath of a certain outside party.

Plutia's sharp gaze returning back to normal after they pacified Blanc.

Noire Jr. wiped a cold sweat off her brow. That was way too close for comfort. They seriously needed to keep their heads leveler than a laser.

"A-Anyway, I know a quick and easy way for you to prove if you're CPUs," she looked pointedly at them, "Transform into your divine state and _maybe_ I'll believe part of your claims!"

Therein lies the problem. They couldn't, and they had been trying repeatedly since its initial failure to activate. It was as if something was blocking them from accessing it. No amount of coaxing and prodding the cores of their powers would circumvent whatever restrictions had seemingly been placed upon them.

"We tried, but we're unable to," Vert explained, "We're from another world, you see, and it appears that the rules for CPUs may be different."

Noire Jr. tsk'd, "A likely story... if I was a gullible idiot!"

"But Noooiiiiire~!" Plutia insisted in a drawn-out manner, "They really aaaare CPUs!"

Noire Jr. snorted at the thought, "Yeah, and _I'm_ the CPU of this 'Lastation' my counterpart touts to be the leader of," she looked at Noire Sr.; it was her turn to be smug, "Oh, and thanks for that name suggestion. I'll be sure to use it when I start a nation of my own,"

"Wait. What?" Noire Sr. deadpanned before her eyes widened slightly at a particular detail about her counterpart — or therein lack of, "What do you mean 'start a nation' of your own? Don't CPUs here form with it?"

Noire Jr. became elated. Finally, something she could one-up her senior with! Knowledge!

"Why of course not, my ignorant _senior_," she chided, "I'm not a CPU yet! And you can't start a nation if you're not one. And you can't be a CPU if you don't have a CPU Memory. Did you happen upon a glowing purple rhombic crystal to become a goddess?"

The Noire Sr. shook her head, perplexed of the concept of this 'CPU Memory.' Her group mimicked her similarly.

"Then you _aren't_ CPUs!" Noire Jr. declared, "And that's final!"

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_Lesson learned in writing: It's easy to write. Writing a __**story**__, however, is a tad more complicated. This took two rewrites and I'm still not satisfied with it._

_Onto the caveats you may notice:_

—_Thanks to Reddit user Lady_Pasta_Heart_Mk2 for referring me to the Nepstations, I found out that the height of Ultradimension's Planeptune Tower is 1.594 kilometers tall. Why Noire is saying eight hundred instead of the canon height? Spoilers._

—_HD-Planeptune looks to be the most technologically advanced nation. I find the idea of Neptune taking pride in her nation's technological prowess both amusing and very likely beneath that unmotivated couch-potato._

—_Hard-Light Sky-Bridges. In the anime, we see a scene where Compa was running towards IF with only hexagonal tiles activating beneath her feet seemingly upon thin air — thank goodness no one looked up. I made up a technical term for it as I couldn't find a clever game-reference of something similar._

—_Zeca Mesas. A made-up location based off of the eroded rock formations seen in the ground-view of Planeptune's horizon and corresponding it to the northern part of Planeptune's map where the Zeca Ruins are._

—_I call Leanbox the nation of Green Growth as opposed to Green Pastures to reflect Vert's... progressive mindset._


End file.
